Remember

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Amidst all the concerts and cookouts, make sure to take some time to remember the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom.

Anticipated Day

So today is the day. It's the first day of my life as a work-from-home mom. Yesterday was the last day of school where I was teaching, and this morning I'm blogging in my pjs.

Hurrah!

I won't be able to do this every morning, since I'm starting some new enterprises soon (I'll share when it's official!), but today I'm giving myself a day to start slow and enjoy. I've been flipping through my Southern Living and planning to hit the yard for some long over-do trimming. Bliss.

(Yes, I need to go the grocery store too, but that's not my favorite. I'd choose sweating in the yard over the grocery store every time. As Scarlett says, "I'll do it tomorrow".)

I also have a heavy heart, though, from some of the prayer requests I've been receiving from much-loved friends. I have friends struggling with all kinds of things today--the pain of divorce, sick children, estranged relationships, financial crisis... Can you relate?

Here's the verse that I'm praying for my friends this morning:

Psalm 130: 7, "O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption."

Please hear me. Prosperity theology is not my thing and really makes me a little ill. I see lots more in scripture about sacrifice, suffering and taking up our cross than health, wealth and promised pleasures.

However, I think that God has been calling me back into balance as of late. There is suffering, but His benefits are incomparable. Full redemption. With Jesus comes full redemption. That's quite a promise.

So this morning I'm praying for full redemption for...
marriages,
families,
little bodies,
wrecked finances,
and your need.

I Survived the Week...Kinda

Last week was a CRAZY week. I've been looking at the week on the calendar for months and dreading it. That's not a good thing, because it really was filled with lots of wonderful events like Anson's Triangle Youth Brass Band Concert.

Here's the whole Dohm crew.

Nolan and Anson with my insane brother popping up behind.

The horn player himself.

From there we left for a soccer tournament in Wilmington. It was a fantastic weekend of watching great games!

Nolan's the one with the funky purple cleats. (That boy loves his cleats!)

These things could be added to my list of fun things to do. Unfortunately, the week was so full that I found myself in overload mode.

Overlode mode is not pretty in Amy Carroll's world. Her family doesn't enjoy it much either.

As I sit in this quiet morning, I have to confess that I didn't handle the week consistently well, and I want to handle the next round of craziness better. (There will be another round eventually no matter how we try to protect our family's schedule. Such is life. Sometimes it can't be helped.)

I was reading the book of Ruth this morning for my Sunday school class next week. I think we've read through Ruth about 6 times or more in the past few weeks. This morning Ruth really spoke to me about handling overload. This is what I've learned for next time:

• Cling to the right things. Ruth clung to Naomi, but in doing so she was clinging to the One True God. I love the saying, "I'm too busy not to pray today." On some days last week, I lost out by not clinging to God and seeking Him that morning for my provision.
  
• Trust. Even though Ruth lived during a time that an unmarried woman was unprotected and unprovided for, she never seemed rattled. She trusted God for provision, and acted to go get that provision. I need to trust that God can provide for me what I need for each day. Sometimes that's material and sometimes that's patience and joy!
  
• Obey. Ruth was obedient to Naomi and the new customs of the culture around her. I need to be obedient to God and the customs of His Kingdom. Sometimes that's countercultural to our own surroundings!

This morning I had some repenting to do. I'm so thankful for second chances. Next time I have a week on the calendar that looms large, I'm going to pray before, during and after that God will be magnified and I will be less. Thank you, Ruth, for setting an example for us to follow!

Adding Some Fun to Life!

If you’re visiting from Encouragement for Today, welcome! I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you’ll be glad you came.

I have been thinking a lot recently about adding fun to life. Entertainment is supposed to be fun, so I’m not advocating cutting it out all together. I also think that God created us for a balance of work along with rest and fun.

It’s so easy for me to “veg” in front of the tv at night, but it amazes me how many times I flip through our many channels only to declare (sometimes whine), “There’s nothing on.”

I need a new list of fun things to do! Do you? Our family recently built a fire pit and plan to spend lots of evening hours there. We are also finding that we love our family time reading our Bible reading for the day together.

When I decided to write this post, though, I wanted to research more clean fun for entertainment. Here are some of my favorites that I found and want to try:

• "Kidnap" some friends/family and take them out for something fun.
• Share a book by reading out loud to one another
• Buy a question book (like 1001 Questions by Gary Poole) and ask away
• Plan an act of kindness
• Have a chick flick sleepover
• Have a “Make Christmas Presents” craft day
• Learn how to plan disc golf. It’s free and outside!
• Write a long letter to an old friend
• Work on a family photo album as a family.
• Learn a new language
• Take time to develop a hobby or talent

This is just a start. What would you add? Have you done something fun recently that I should try?

Getting a Little Personal

It's disturbing when your children are more mature than you. Spiritually. Really.

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a day. It was a very bad day. I had a list in my head that I was too busy to write down. Honestly, that's really too busy for me. Usually I'm one of those sick list makers who loves her list so much that I write down things I've already down just for the unadulterated joy of checking them off.

I don't do many things at one time well at all, and that day it piled on.

On top of the many things on my own list, it turned out that my boys had lists of their own. How could they? And their daddy was gone that night. How could he?

You can see where this is going. On top of the laundry, cleaning, dinner to make and event to prepare for, they had practices, a cake to bake (Nolan makes a chocolate cake that has become so famous that my friends ask for it for their birthdays) and a project to do...over.

I didn't handle it well. I went into what my mama loves to call a snit. I snapped and sighed loudly and rolled my tired eyes.

It was ugly.

Late that night, Anson sat on the bed with me, grinned and teasingly added one more thing to my list. I said, "How do you think that I'm going to respond to that request today?"

He quickly replied, "I'm sure with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Again...big grin.

Yikes! Would somebody please take that boy's Bible away? All this daily Bible reading has got to stop if it means that mama gets gently put in her place!!

It really is disturbing when your children are walking in a place of greater spiritual maturity than you are. It was disturbing but wonderful, and it called me to a higher place. Thank you, Jesus, for using my growing boys to help me grow in You.

ps. If the spacing is all funky or non-existant, please excuse me. My blogger wants to act up when I add a photo, and I have a list of things I have to go do rather than trying to fix this for the ten-bizillionth time! :)

Another Simple Pleasure

Of all the things that bring a smile to my face, being with a friend is one near the top of my list. Last weekend I got to speak to the women of Duneland Community Church in Chesterton, Indiana. What a treat it was to be with you!

I also got to spend time with my friend Gretchen and her family. It was wonderful to talk and laugh and catch up. Spending time with her little people was also a delight. Since my boys are big 'ole boys, it is such a rare pleasure to spend time with little children. Their energy and never-ending-commentary cracked me up! (It's especially fun to be around well-behaved children. Gretchen and Greg, you rock as parents!!)

In my challenge to do something that brings joy, I encourage you to make some time to spend with a friend face-to-face this week. I love all the social networking, but it's just not the same as face-time. To make it really special, schedule the time in your home. Don't worry about cleaning the house or cooking an elaborate meal. Keep it simple and enjoy. Thanks Gretchen for opening your home to me!

Time for Joy

What a treat! Barry and I had dropped off Nolan to bowl with some friends, Anson was at a band practice and we were getting to have a date night. We rolled up to one of our favorite casual restaurants and noticed that there was a concert in progress in the outdoor eating area.

We got our food and happily carried our trays outside to listen to the percussion group. They had all kinds of hand drums (my hubby knows all the names of these exotic instruments but to me they're all "bongo drums"), shakers and wood blocks.

The music was great but the thing that started to capture my attention was how much FUN the musicians were having. There were big grins on every face. Hips were shaking, heads were nodding and feet were tapping. You can imagine how contagious it was to the crowd. Everyone was having a wonderful time.

I've been reflecting ever since. Just when did I adopt the idea that serving God and bringing Him glory is all about duty? Too often I look at my calendar and realize that it's filled with things that I feel obligated to but not necessarily called to.

My heart's desire above all things is to bring God glory. Sometimes that does mean self-discipline, duty and work. Sometimes, though, it brings God great glory for the rest of creation (or nobody at all) to see me joyfully doing something that I was created/hard-wired to love--laying in our hammock with a good book, putting brightly colored flowers into the soil, singing at the top of my lungs in my car with Travis Cottrell (he loves it, he really does) or some other lucky recording artist. Enjoying life.

I challenge you today. Take time, even if it's just a few minutes, to do something you truly love today. I'll bet it's going to bring as big of a smile to God's face as it does to yours.

S'Mores Might Be the Answer to My Problem

Happy belated Mother's Day! I've fallen off the blogging wagon a little, but here I am crawling back on and wanting to share something fun.


I was moaning the other day to a friend about how scattered my family is. Spring is our busiest time of year with soccer, band concerts, spring rental season for Barry and speaking for me. The four of us end up in the car, on our computers or glazed in front of the tv way too much. We work hard at having meals together and doing our Bible reading, but we've sort of been missing FUN.

I mentioned to this wise woman that my guys had come home from camping talking about a fire pit. I was up for it, but I can be a little upity about stuff in my yard so I had inserted myself into the design process. My friend encouraged me to let go and just do it. She described how once a week her family carries hot dog and s'more makings out to the firepit in their back yard to have dinner and talk around the fire.

Ahhhh...that sounded like just the ticket.

So on Sunday, I let go of plans that included a stylish patio under my fire pit, and our family built one in our natural area. It's definitely not up-town, but I do have to say that our s'more-making christening was wonderful.

It feels like we're camping since it's among the trees. We want to add some adirondak chairs and hang some cute lights from the trees, but that's it. The boys were so excited about helping to build it and talking about inviting over friends. That would be another bonus!

I'm going to follow this with a picture or two, but here's all we used to build it:

• The bowl part of a fire pit from Lowes
• Retaining wall blocks
• Brick chips for the ground on the inside

It's a cheap and easy project that I foresee bringing our family together.
Win-win!!
I crave more ideas for family fun and closeness. Please share yours!

How Ya Doin'?

For those of you that started reading through the Bible in January, I'd love to hear how you're doing. Our family is hanging in there. Some weeks have been better than others.

We're finding that since we're doing it as a family, it's impractical to do it together every day. Sometimes we're all reading in the same room but not at the same places. Evening activities present a challenge, so sometimes the boys are reading 2 days worth to catch up from the day before.

We're struggling to get back on track so that we can read together at least 3-4 days a week. The discussions from these times have been rich. It's been great to work through hard passages together and discuss motives of our Biblical predecessors. It's interesting how many times scripture is silent concerning those motives, leaving us to grapple with the application of God's principals.

One thing that's been a huge help is following Wendy Pope's blog as she goes through the Bible for the second time in two years. That girl is a workhorse, and I'm so thankful to be the recipient of all her hard work!

I'd love to hear how you're doing and any solutions to challenges that you're finding.

Somethin' Good

So even though I don't like to cook (see Friday), I love family meals at home. Here's a can't-miss recipe from my friend Jennifer that everyone loves to come home to--pure comfort food when it's served with rice.

Crock Pot Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts
1/2-3/4 stick of melted butter
1 can crm of mushroom soup
1/2 C. water
2 Tbsp. onion
6-8 oz. cream cheese
1 pkg. Italian Good Seasons mix
4 oz. canned mushrooms

Brush chicken with butter. Put in crock pot and sprinkle with Italian mix. Cook on low 5-6 hours. 30-45 minutes before serving, mix mushroom soup, onion, room temp. cream cheese, water and mushrooms. Put in crock pot and heat through.